[Scan-DC] Wireless Home Phone Service in D.C. area

[Rick Hansen]

Hi Alan, I have a lot of experience with Comcast and Verizon in Maryland. I
am a heavy internet and phone user who recently ditched FIOS/cable TV. At
the end of the message I mention how to hook up all your house phones to a
free Google Voice number and ditch the taxes. I also address an alternative
to their TV service.

- Comcast reliability and customer service in my part of Montgomery County
is bad. I used to have to reset the modem several times a week, which is a
10-20 minute endeavor. They love to hike your price regularly and Comcast
staff rarely shows up for appointments. IMHO their Montgomery County support
staff enjoys lying to customers and their management couldn't care less. 

- Verizon's product is good and their management sucks. FIOS provides very
fast and very reliable internet service. Make sure you ask for a WiFi router
that supports the new 'N' standard. The problem is if your start out with
all their services (phone/internet/tv or a double play of internet+phone)
and then drop something off of your package. Your account will get screwed
up and it takes a long time to recover. They also love to increase your fee
yearly. You have to ask to cancel your service to keep your price and this
is a time consuming endeavor.  

- Once you've had FIOS going back to DSL would be frustrating. I would hate
to live that way, but if you mainly do e-mail and light web browsing it
would be OK. 

Regarding the phone service - yes you can get CLEAR and some other vendors
who are reasonably priced for a wireless house phone. You can connect all
your phones to the box, depending on which one you get. I can help you with
this. 

=====
*However*, I would suggest you do the following:
- Get the lowest cost FIOS Internet plan you can. They offer frequent
rebates so do a lot of research. 

- Set up a free Google Voice account, and then purchase a $39 interface that
lets you hook up your house phones to Google Voice via the internet:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833617001 

I have two FIOS phone lines in my house and I am dumping one of them so I
can use this device for the second line. Note that it has over 163 reviews
and the highest possible rating in the reviews (5 eggs). 

Regarding Cable TV, you might want to look at Hulu/Hulu+. For the "pay"
version (Hulu+) there are lots of programs and it only takes 44 minutes to
watch an hour long show (commercials are less than 50 seconds at each
break). With the high-speed FIOS we're very happy with the performance. I
also hooked up an attic antenna and receive plenty of TV stations from DC
and Baltimore, and most of the stations have "secondary" channels that
provide additional programming. 

May we all listen well and often,

R.

-----Original Message-----
From: scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Alan Henney
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 1:54 AM
To: Scan DC
Subject: [Scan-DC] Wireless Home Phone Service in D.C. area


My mother and I are seriously considering canceling our Verizon POTS
copper-wire phone service.

Checking our bill, 35 percent of it goes to taxes.  This is ridiculous.

Verizon called us a couple weeks ago, apologizing for bad phone service we
may have had recently (we hadn't had trouble).  They were trying to
encourage us to switch to a new fiber line (I presume) complete with battery
back-up which we don't have (and don't need) now.  Should we make the
switch?

What options do we have in the D.C. area for wireless home phone service?  I
saw ATT and Verizon Wireless both offer a unit for about $22/month in this
market (anybody using those?).  How many extensions can you run from the
unit?

What about Internet?  What other common VOIP services are there that use our
old home telephone (Vonage, MagicJack, etc.)?

We would like to transfer our existing phone number.

Curious what options others are using in the D.C. region.  Since we already
have a MagicJack now, I was thinking of going wireless for the other phone
line.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Alan
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